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THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE OEIVE. 



<V 






> ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 



OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



NOVEMBER 26TH, 1846. 



THE HON. MITCHEL KING. 



PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY, 



COLUMBIA, S. C. 
I. C. MORGAN, PRINTER. 



1846 






THE HISTORY AND CUITtRE OF THE OLITE. 



ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 

OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 

DELIVERED 

IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
NOVEMBER 26TH, 1846. 



THE HON, MITCHEL KING, 



PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY, 



COLUMBIA, S. C. 
I. C. MORGAN, PRINTER. 

1846 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the State Agricultural Society of South Carolina : 

At the last anniversary of this Society, the Honorable John C. Calhouw 
was elected by you, unanimously, to make the Address, which, according to 
the Constitution and usages of the Society, should yearly at this time be 
delivered before you. After this appointment, at the earnest solicitation of 
some of our most distinguished citizens and in obedience to the voice of the 
State, he was called from his retirement to take a place again in our public 
councils, and to give the country the benefit of his large experience his 
mature wisdom and well earned influence. A crisis existed in our national 
affairs. Not only were our friendly relations with our sister Republic of 
Mexico entirely interrupted, but we seemed on the very verge of a war with 
one of the most powerful empires of the old world, — with which we have 
the most numerous and intimate commercial relations, — and questions of 
constitutional law were in agitation, of the deepest interest, affecting our 
whole internal policy, and on whose wise and happy solution the very exis- 
tence of our Union may depend. In this emergency, not our State alone 
but all intelligent and impartial men. from Maine to Texas, from the Rocky 
Mountains to the Atlantic, looked to Mr. Calhoun. Nobly has he fulfilled the 
high expectations formed of him. The war with Mexico has added another 
page of success and honor to the history of our gallant army, and has taught 
to the nations jealous of us a lesson that will not soon be forgotten. But it 
has already caused a large amount of individual suffering — must involve a 
greatly increased taxation, with all its attendant evils, and can probably add 
little to our permanent prosperity. Had his advice been followed with a little 
more of prudence and foresight on her part, and of forbearance and kindness 
on ours, this war might, perhaps, have been avoided. Under Providence, he 
has been mainly instrumental in preventing a war with England, and in pro- 
moting the honorable adjustment of the only matter that remained between 
us and that country, likely to bring us into collision. His Report of the 
26th of June last has shed on the vexed question of Internal Improvements 
a flood of light, which, whatever may be the ultimate result, will aid to il- 
lumine and guide the public mind to a safe and just determination. Blessed 
are the peace makers. Blessed are they who with powerful intellect and 
profound sagacity and unswerving integrity, establish on a sure foundation 
the principles of justice, — principles that approve themselves to the general 
understanding, and promote the best interests of society. Such men are 
public benefactors. The country which possesses them may well be proud of 
them and owes them a debt of gratitude which it should delight to ac- 
knowledge, and if possible, to repay. 

The duties to which Mr. Calhoun was called by his last election to the 
Senate of the United States obliged him to decline the office to which you 



had appointed him — and your Executive Committee did me the honor to 
name me to it. Though you will regret the loss of the pleasure and profit 
which his familiar and extensive knowledge of Agriculture would no doubt 
have communicated to this office, you will not regret that he was prevented 
from affording them by his devotion to the service of the country, and by 
his availing efforts for the attainment of even higher objects. Yet, you 
gentlemen and your Executive Committee will, I trust, pardon me when I, 
in all sincerity, declare my unfeigned regret, that their selection had not 
fallen on some one more competent, more conversant with the great o'bjects 
of the Society, and who could have laid before you facts and views within 
his own observation, worthy of being remembered and improved, — who could 
have added from his own experiments something to our information in Ag- 
ricultural science, and made perhaps, in one department of it or another, a 
step in advance of our present progress. Very deeply do I feel my own 
unfitness to do justice to the office to which I have been appointed — yet, I 
did not feel myself at liberty to decline it, — I felt that you, gentlemen, had 
the right to call on me, and that it was my duty to obey the call, how much 
soever I might distrust my own competency to meet it. The engrossing 
studies and practice of a jealous profession, have left me little leisure or op- 
portunity for Agricultural inquiries. Did the ability and knowledge fitting 
for the occasion at all equal the earnest will, then I might hope to be able 
to submit to you something which you would not willingly forget. 

From the earliest accounts, traditional, or historical, of the human family, 
the culture of the ground has been considered the most important employ- 
ment. The man who first planted the grain in the soil, with the view of 
producing a crop, was the greatest benefactor ever given to the world. The 
unknown discoverer, if he were a mere man, was deified by the ancients, — 
it may have been taught to him by the Author of his being, for sacred history 
tells us that God, when he had made man, " took him and put him into the 
Garden of Eden, to dress (to work) it and to keep it." This art laid the 
deep foundation of human improvement. In the works and days of Hesiod, 
it is the subject of one of the oldest poems, that amid the wreck of ages have 
reached us. It occupied the mind of a Xenophon and an Aristotle, — and 
Cato the Censor, the Cato Major of Cicero, has bequeathed to us the lessons 
of his experience in it. The treatises of distinguished men on this subject, 
in ancient mediaeval and more modern times, are numerous, — but it is wor- 
thy of observation, that though it was studied and cultivated by individuals, no 
combined or continued effort for its improvement seems to have been made 
until about the middle of the last century — and it was yet later before any 
of the other sciences were invoked to the assistance of this the mistress and 
support of all the sciences. Columella, who was contemporary with our 
Saviour, and who has written the best work on Husbandry which has come 
down to us from antiquity, complains of this neglect, and tells us that while 
every other profession has its teachers, * " Sola res rustica, qua? sine dubita- 
tione proxima et quasi consanguinea Sapientias est, tarn discentibus egeat 
quam magistris," — and what is even more remarkable, while there were 
schools for Cooks and Head-dressers and Hair-dressers, " contemptissimo- 
rutnvitiorum officinae." — "Agricolationis neque doctores qui se profiterentur 
— neque discipulos cognovi." 

* Columellas, L. 1, Pref. 



The causes of this just complaint continued — indeed, rather increased — 
for many centuries. Agriculture was probably more highly valued, and 
more carefully studied, and better understood, in the days of Theophrastus 
and Varro and Virgil, than in those of Corneille and Shakspeare and 
Bacon and Newton. Colleges were founded, and professorships endowed, 
and societies formed, for the cultivation of almost every other branch of 
knowledge. Agriculture had no such assistance. The revival of letters — 
the discovery of printing — the Reformation, which gave such an impulse to 
the human mind, and to the progress of society, did scarcely any thing for 
husbandry. The Agriculturist had no assistance from seminaries of learn- 
ing or of science, and very little from the observations or experiments of 
his contemporaries. He was left to gather his information from the solitary 
writers on the subject who had gone before him — from the traditionary 
knowledge which attends every profession, and from the lessons of his own 
experience. Within the last century, great and most favorable changes 
have been effected. The causes of Columella's complaint have been now, 
and we trust, forever removed. These changes may well be considered as 
among the best evidences of the onward and upward progress of society. 
Agriculture has taken the place, and occupies the attention to which it is 
entitled. Associations have been formed to collect information, to encour- 
age experiments, and to promote improvement. Professorships in it have 
been established in many of the great universities of Europe. The rich 
and the noble, the learned and the wise, of every civilized country, are 
using their efforts to advance and raise it, in all its branches, to the highest 
degree of excellence. 

It must be confessed that, though since the first settlement of the country 
agriculture has been by far our most important interest, and the main, I 
might almost say, the only source of our wealth and prosperity, it has 
scarcely until recently, received among us that general and united encour- 
agement to which it is entitled. It is true, that the Agricultural Society of 
South Carolina, begun in 1784, was organized on the 24th of August, 1785, 
and Thomas Heyward, Junior, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and the late venerable Thomas Pinckney, were elected President 
and Vice-President. Gentlemen of distinction in other States, and among 
them Mr. Jefferson, then (in 1785) Minister to France, were elected mem- 
bers. Many of the members have, from time to time, communicated the 
results of their experience to the publications of the day, but these com- 
munications were not then collected into any permanent work. The publi- 
cations in which they appeared, have most of them passed away, and though 
they may have added to what may be called the traditional knowledge of 
the planter, they generally cannot now be found and consulted for more ac- 
curate information. The money raised among the members was liberally 
expended in promoting the improvement of stock, importing new objects of 
agricultural industry, and endeavoring to introduce a better system of hus- 
bandry and new productive staples into the country. But the results of 
these efforts were not so successful as they certainly deserved to be. The 
introduction of the tide swamp culture of rice by Gideon Dupont, about 
1783, and the extensive production of cotton as an export, nearly at the 
same time, were due rather to individual skill and enterprise, than to any 
public encouragement. But the spirit of enquiry and improvement in- 
creased. The establishment of the South Carolina College, sustained and 



fostered this spirit. The light of learning and science, which has shone, 
and shines there with so much lustre, has cheered and illumined — may it 
ever continue to cheer and illumine — every corner of our land. The labors 
of a free press, and the diffusion of periodical literature, have carried in- 
formation to every fire-side. Agricultural Societies have been formed in 
different parts of the State, and this Society, combining them all in united 
and continued effort has, we trust, commenced a career of usefulness that 
will lead to the most favorable results. The valuable addresses which have 
been delivered before you, the reports made to you, and the memoirs col- 
lected by you and published for general use, and placed within the reach of 
every planter, will be of lasting benefit. And the State, by the persevering, 
untiring efforts of gentlemen of this Society, has been induced to direct the 
Geological and Agricultural Survey, which, in the able hands by which it 
has been conducted, has already afforded much invaluable information, and 
it is earnestly hoped, will be continued until all the objects contemplated 
by it be fully attained. 

It has been often remarked, that no kind of knowledge travels so slowly 
as Agricultural knowledge. While one county in England continued to 
plow with a man and a driver, and four or five -horses, another at a short 
distance from it had, for years, plowed and done better work with one man 
and two horses. While one country has invented thrashing mills, and 
causes water or steam to thrash out the crop, another still employs the un- 
muzzled ox that treadeth out the corn. While the rice of Carolina was 
raised on the margins of rivers, within the ebbing and flowing of the tide, 
and pounded and prepared by machinery to bring the highest price in the 
market of the world, the Hindoo, under the control and direction of the 
intelligent Englishman, was content to pursue his old modes of culture and 
preparation. 

Your anniversaries are of the greatest importance. They bring gentle- 
men together who would otherwise seldom meet. The Reports of your 
Committees, the discussion of the experiments of the past year, the exami- 
nation of proposed improvements or alleged discoveries keep alive and 
stimulate the spirit of enquiry in which they originated. They promote 
the general diffusion of agricultural knowledge. The information of one 
becomes the information of all, and its advantages are spread throughout 
the country. 

It is of great importance to the practical planter that he should be able 
to test the accuracy and value of his opinions by comparing them with the 
opinions of others, equally, or perhaps more observant and skilful than himself. 
Nothing stimulates the mind more than the collision of sentiments, and the 
moment of animated discussion often suggests new and enlarged ideas and 
views, which calm reflection or even severe study had failed to afford. Al- 
most every year improvements are made in some department or another of 
rural economy. Few persons think of communicating them through the 
medium of the press, and even if they were so communicated, they might 
escape notice, or attract little attention. Here they could not fail to receive 
the consideration to which they might be entitled. A spark falling on fitting 
materials, kindles a flame — a small seed falling into a fertile soil, may pro- 
duce a great tree — an opinion entertained doubtingly, on being examined, 
may lead to important consequences. Every well weighed opinion on 
Agricultural matters submitted here, should find its place in the records of 



the Society — it may at the time be received with little favor, and yet may 
be pregnant with good — future reflection or the view taken of it or sug- 
gested by it to a kindred mind, may raise it to importance and give it activity. 

It is not alone the free interchange and discussion of opinions that should 
distinguish our anniversaries ; we ought to embody in our proceedings an 
account of every remarkable observation or experiment in agriculture, which 
during the previous year has been made among us. If these observations 
and experiments be not recorded, the memory of them in a short time passes 
away — our successors derive no benefit from them, and are left to pursue 
the same course which we have pursued, and to learn over again for them- 
selves what we might well have taught them. 

New modes of cultivation, of draining, of manuring, are constantly pre- 
senting themselves. New agents of fertility are discovered and applied, not 
only among ourselves, but in different parts of the world. It would be 
expensive and hazardous for the individual to test by experiments the suc- 
cess of these novelties, and to ascertain how far they may be adapted to our 
soil and climate. When such matters are brought under the notice of our 
Society, how easy and how important would it be to appoint special commit- 
tees of our body to examine each particular subject of inquiry — to experi- 
ment upon it, if experiment be necessary, and to report the results to the 
next meeting of the Society. The expense and attention and skill of one 
member would thus inure to the benefit of all, not only of the Society but 
of the State. The time and talents of each committee being particularly 
called to the subject submitted to it, would secure greater care, and stimulate 
to more accurate observation and fuller details than can be ordinarily ex- 
pected from solitary and unsolicited enquiry. We have recently had the 
highest evidence of the accuracy and importance of the information of a 
new process of manuring, from the skill and experience of a distinguished 
member of the Society, who has given to a kindred association the results of 
his intelligent and continued experiments in marling, — and has put that 
information in the most appropriate shape to be communicated to every 
planter, and preserved for our successors. 

Matters of enquiry on subjects connected with agriculture are absolutely 
as boundless as the physical history of the earth which we inhabit. Every 
year is making new discoveries in the diversities of soil — of the elements 
of which it is composed — of the quantity of the different parts which enter 
into the composition — of the growth of plants — of what they owe to the air 
or to the elements of which it is formed — to the light or to its elements — to 
electricity, and all the agencies in vegetation by which, in the wonderful 
laboratory of nature, the grain produces fruit after its kind, and the small 
seed becomes a great tree. 

There are some departments in natural history which are too apt to be 
looked upon with indifference, even by the considerate, and treated with 
ridicule by the would-be wit, that are yet of the utmost importance to the 
husbandman. Our Cotton fields are exposed to many enemies — at one time 
a small catterpillar, that in summer changes into a pretty moth, — at another 
time a large kind of catterpillar, called the army worm, which produces a 
butterfly, — at another time an insect called the cut-worm or the cotton louse, 
attack the cotton plant and blast the hopes of the planter. The Hessian 
fly lays waste the wheat field, — the locust that has been buried in the ground, 
as it is said for years, issues from its larva, a winged plague, and spreads 



8 

devastation and ruin in its track. These, and insects like these, are undoubt- 
edly governed in their production and ravages and whole being, by laws 
which are little understood. If we knew these laws, we might be able 
effectually to check or even to destroy their production — and thence either 
greatly lessen or entirely prevent their ravages. The accumulation of facts 
respecting these several destroyers, brought together and reported at our 
anniversaries, would furnish materials from which science might ascertain 
these laws. It will be for the Society to determine how far they will direct 
attention to the collection of such facts. 

To increase the number of our Staples is a matter of the deepest impor- 
tance, not only to every Planter, but to every citizen of the State. We 
have hitherto been, and must probably continue to be, an Agricultural peo- 
ple. Our Rice and our Cotton have for many years been the chief sources, 
I might almost say, the only sources of our income, and have furnished a very 
large proportion of the exports of the whole Union. They have been equiv- 
alent to gold and silver in the payment of imported commodities. They 
have maintained our credit in. the foreign market, and prevented the bal- 
ance of trade from being against us. In this traffic, cotton has been by far 
the most important article. 

The supply and demand of this staple, since its first successful production 
here, have increased in a ratio which the greatest sagacity could scarcely 
have anticipated. But, though the demand has generally corresponded 
with the supply, and maintained the article at a remunerating price to the 
producer, the continual opening of fresh land to the South and West, in 
many instances lands more fertile than ours, and the almost unlimited ex- 
tent of such lands, and the greater crops with equal or even less labor made 
on them, enabling the producer to undersell us, and yet to realize a large 
profit on his capital, have all conspired to cause a considerable fall in pri- 
ces, and recently they have failed with us to give a fair return on the labor 
and capital employed in raising the article. To such an extent has this been 
the case, that as the price of a commodity always depends in the first in- 
stance on the demand and the supply, and as the demand is not likely to 
decrease, it has been seriously proposed to plant less cotton and more of 
some other articles, that the supply of cotton being considerably diminished, 
the price might be raised, and probably more obtained for a small than could 
have been obtained for a large crop. Even if this proposal carried into ef- 
fect were certain of success, it would only raise prices for a limited time, 
and would tend to stimulate the production of the article in other countries. 

The profits of capital and the wages of labor have a constant tendency 
to equalize themselves throughout the commercial world. But even among 
ourselves we can procure no combined effort for this object, and the culture 
of cotton will be stimulated to its maximum, until some other crop is in- 
troduced, which will yield a better return. In this culture, then, it is greatly 
to be feared, that we may not be long able to rival our brethren of the 
South- Western States. Labor will go where it receives the highest reward. 
The Planter who can raise 6 or 7 bales of cotton to the hand, can afford 
to give a higher price for the hand, than the Planter who can only raise 4 
or 5 bales. Any demand for the article, beyond what the existing supply 
can meet, would, of course, raise the price. Should the alleged discovery 
of Gun-Cotton, accomplish all that has been claimed for it, and should that 
preparation supercede the use of Gunpowder, and lead to the annual con- 



sumption of 3 or 400,000 bales, beyond the present demand, the price would 
undoubtedly rise, and would yield a better return to the Planter. But our 
capacity to raise Cotton is so great — we have such bodies of land fit for the 
culture — that whenever it produced a larger return than the average pro- 
duction on capital, the production of it would be so stimulated, as very speed- 
ily to equalize the supply to the demand, and to bring back a reduction of 
price, and make us again unable to compete, successfully, with the South- 
western Planter. It would, therefore, be of the utmost importance to this 
State, if a new staple could be introduced, that would afford a fair remu- 
nerating return to the labor bestowed in raising it. 

From the very first settlement of the country, it has been considered by, 
I believe, very intelligent men, who have examined the subject, as well cal- 
culated for the successful cultivation of the Olive. Some efforts have been 
made to introduce it. These efforts have been unsuccessful, but they have 
been very imperfect. They were conducted on no regular, understanding 
system. We had little or no skill in the culture, and we did not seek, or 
did not procure that skill where it could be obtained. The Olive-tree, if 
raised from the seed, is slow in coming to maturity — is slow in yielding a 
return. We have not had the patience to persevere. We have been in 
haste to receive the reward of our labor. We have been sanguine in be- 
ginning our efforts — but we have been too easily discouraged by difficul- 
ties ; and disappointments, probably unexpected, have caused us to abandon 
a culture, which, it is earnestly believed, skill and perseverance would have 
crowned with success. This is a subject of so much interest, and may, by 
possibility, lead to results of such importance, that I pray the permission of 
the Society to bring it fully before them. 

From the first settlement of Carolina, it has been considered well adapt- 
ed to the culture of the Olive. In one of the earliest accounts of the coun- 
try, by Richard Blome,* published in 1678, it is said that the Olive trees 
brought from Portugal and the Bermudas, increase exceedingly, and will 
produce a quantity of oil. And Samuel Wilson, who had been for years 
agent of the Lords Proprietors, repeats nearly the language of Blome, and 
adds, " the inhabitants take great care to propagate, more so, that in all prob- 
ability, it will be an excellent oily country." When the charter of Carolina, 
of 1663, was granted, the other proprietors left the chief management of 
the colony, to the very able and unscrupulous Lord Shaftsbury. It is well 
known, that at his request, Mr. Locke drew up his celebrated Fundamental 
Constitution of Carolina — but it is not as generally known, that for a num- 
ber of years he carried on an active correspondence with the colony, in 
which he took the deepest interest, and it is highly probable, that in 1679, 
he procured Mr. Locke to write his judicious observations on Wine, Olives, 
Fruit and Silk, with a special view to South Carolina. The troubles in 
which Shaftsbury was soon after involved, and his death, in January, 1683, 
no doubt prevented these observations from being published until a long 
time after. In the description of Carolina of 1682, by T. A. Gentleman, 
we are told, " the Olive trees thrive there very well. Mr. James Colleton, 
brother to Sir Peter, one of the Honorable Proprietors, brought an Olive 
stick from Fayal, cut off at both ends, to Carolina, which, put into the 
ground, grew and prospered exceedingly. If the Olive be well improved, 

* Blome, 207. f 2 Car, Col. 65. 



10 

there may be expected from thence perhaps as good oil as any the world 
yields." Gov. Glen tells us, that in the intense frost of the 7th January, 
1747, probably the severest ever felt in Carolina, he lost an Olive tree of 
such prodigious size, that he thought it proof against all weathers. It was 
near a foot and a half diameter in the trunk, and bore many bushels of ex- 
cellent Olives every year." We may conclude, that this was probably one 
of the first Olives planted in the country, and could scarcely have been less 
than 60 or 70 years old. Even this terrible Winter would seem not to have 
killed all our Olive trees, for Dr. Milligan, in Charleston, in 1763, says; 
" We have plenty of Olives." 

When Mr. Jefferson, as has been stated, was in 1785, elected a Member 
of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina, he, with his characteristic 
zeal, endeavored to promote the objects of the Society. In May, 1786, he 
sent them " some seeds of a grass found to be very useful in the South of 
Europe." He hoped it might be equally useful here ; and in the Fall he 
expected to send them some acorns of the Cork trees, which he was persua- 
ded would succeed with us. On the 30th of July, 1787, he writes to them, 
through his correspondent, William Drayton, the father of the late Honora- 
ble William Drayton, a letter, which well deserves perusal, but which, on 
the subject of the Olive, is especially interesting. While I would venture 
to commend the whole letter to your attention, some of his observations on 
the Olive, I beg now to submit to you.f " The Olive is a tree the least 
known in America, and yet the most worthy of being known. Of all gifts 
of Heaven to man, it is next to the most precious, if it be not the most pre- 
cious. Perhaps it may claim a preference even to bread ; because there is 
such an infinitude of vegetables, which it renders a proper and comfortable 
nourishment. In passing the Alps, at the Col de Tende, where there are 
mere masses of rock, wherever there happens to be a little soil, there are a 
number of Olive trees, and a village supported by them. Take away these 
trees, and the same ground, in Corn, would not support a single family. — 
A pound of Oil, which can be bought for three or four pence sterling, is 
equivalent to many pounds of flesh, by the quantity of vegetables it will 
prepare, and render fit and comfortable food. Without this tree, the coun- 
try of Provence and territory of Genoa, would not support one-half, per- 
haps not one-third, their present inhabitants. The nature of the soil is of 
little consequence, if it be dry. The trees are planted from fifteen to twen- 
ty feet apart, and when tolerably good, will yield fifteen or twenty pounds 
of oil yearly, one with another. There are trees which yield much more. 
They begin to render good crops at twenty years old, and last till killed by 
cold, which happens at some time or other, even in their best positions in 
France. But they put out again from their roots. In Italy, I am told, 
they have trees of two hundred years old. They afford an easy but con- 
stant employment throughout the year, and require so little nourishment, 
that if the soil be fit for any other production, it may be cultivated among 
the Olive trees, without injuring them," and immediately after, he says, — 
" wherever the Orange will stand at all, the Olive will stand well, being a 
harder tree." The Honorable William Johnson, in an Agricultural essay, 
written by him, in 1815, in which he quotes this very passage from Mr. 
Jefferson, corrects an error into which he hafe fallen, of a discouraging ten- 

* 2 Jef. W. 14 ; lb. 193. f 2 Jef. W. 197. 



11 

dency, where he says, " the tree begins to render good crops at twenty years 
old." Judge Johnson* remarks, " this may he true, when raised from the 
seed ; and it may be also true, that they are continually improving to that 
age; but I have eaten olives from my own trees in six years after I com- 
menced to propagate them, and by raising them from scions, cuttings and 
root-grafting, the production is materially expedited." It is unquestionable 
that the Olive flourished in this State from an early period of our history. — 
The speaker has seen trees in Charleston, bearing, very abundantly, a plump, 
large fruit, and they looked as vigorous and thrifty as any of our forest 
trees. No persevering, continued effort has, it is believed, been made to 
raise them as producing a permanent staple of trade. We have been dis- 
couraged, it is to be feared, by difficulties and disappointments which some- 
times occur to them in the countries where they are cultivated with the 
greatest success. 

Ramsey tells us that they have " been brought from abroad, and natur- 
alized, and their fruit prepared and preserved equal to imported ones." 

Probably the only obstacle to the successful cultivation of the Olive among 
us, is the occasional severity of our Winter climate. It does not alone de- 
pend upon the latitude in which we are situated. It is affected by our prox- 
imity to the sea. The Gulf-stream, that passes along our coast, is from 5 to 
10 degrees warmer than the adjacent ocean, and influences our temperature. 
The Northern limit in Europe to the culture of the Olive, ranges, it is said, 
between latitude 36° and 44° 5'. It succeeds wherever with a mean 
annual temperature from 66° to 58° F., that of Summer is not below 71°, 
nor that of the coldest month below 42°. I am not aware that the average 
temperature of our climate, for the Summer and Winter months, has ever 
been accurately ascertained. But I am persuaded that in both seasons, it 
must considerably exceed the height stated to be requisite, and although the 
authority quoted considers that this temperature excludes America beyond 
34°, that would still leave the larger portion of our State adapted to this 
culture. There are good reasons to think that the North limit of the culture 
on the Atlantic sea-board of our continent, will be found to be considerably 
higher. The celebrated Arthur Young, who did so much to promote the 
progress of Agriculture, published a map of France, in which he represent- 
ed, by three nearly parallel lines, the Northern limits of the Olive, the 
Maize and the Vine. The Olive grows in great luxuriance in Provence 
and Languedoc, which lie to the North of 43° : and the average tempera- 
ture of these provinces can scarcely be so propitious as that of South Caro- 
lina, which lies in so much lower a latitude. Mr. Jefferson saw the Olive 
growing at Col de Tende. Millar says, that with ease, they are sometimes 
raised in England, and produce fruit in the open air, though certainly the 
average heat of an English Summer, is below 71°, and the average cold 
of the coldest month in Winter, much below 42°. But we have still high- 
er assurance that the Olive will flourish in our State. The Olive, accor- 
ding to the Linn*an system, is a genus of tree belonging to the diandria 
monogynia class of plants. It is usually divided into three species, but 
nine species are mentioned by writers, and the varieties are very numerous. 
The very distinguished French botanist, A. P. de Candolle, says, "however 
heterogeneous the Olive tribe may appear as at present limited, it is remark - 

* Johnson's Essays, 129. 



12 

able that the species will all graft on each other, a fact which demonstrates 
the analogy of their juices, and their fibres; the lilac will graft upon the 
ash, the chronauthus and the fontanesia, and I have succeeded in making 
the Persian lilac live ten years on the phyllirea latifolia. The Olive will 
take on the phyllirea, and even on the ash," and Lindley, the Professor of 
Botany in the University College, London, quotes and adopts this opinion. 
The Olea Americana is a native of South Carolina — " a small beautiful 
tree," says the venerated Stephen Elliott, " of from twelve to twenty feet 
high. It grows in rich light soils along the sea coast of Carolina and 
Georgia, and is rarely found sixty miles from the ocean." Various species 
of the ash abound throughout the country. De Candolle's statement of the 
facility with which the Olive will graft on every kindred tree, is confirmed 
by the high authority of Palladius. In his Xlllth book de Insitione of his 
De Re Rustica, speaking of the Olive, he says : 

Robora palladii decorat silvestria rami 
Nobilitat partus bacca superba feros, 
Fecundat steriles pingues Oleaster Olivas 
Et, qua non novit munera ferre docet. 

Which may be thus imperfectly paraphrased : 

Minerva's bough graft on the forest tree, 
And Olives teem where acorns wont to be ; 
The Oleaster sees new branches shoot 
And wonders at her gift of precious fruit. 

The graft usually partakes of the vigor of the stock upon which it is 
grafted, and it seems reasonable to expect, that the fruit-bearing Olive, judi- 
ciously grafted upon the Olea Americana, a native tree, or even on the ash, 
would stand our climate. But the matter really appears settled by the tes- 
timony of the writers that I have quoted. Mr. Augustus L. Hillhouse, who 
has furnished an interesting essay on the Olive, to the fourth half volume 
of Michaux' North American Sylva, indeed, says, (page 199,) " the Olives 
near Charleston were rendered barren by the vernal frosts, which congealed 
the young shoots." If he means to inform his readers that after the tree 
has blossomed, and before the fruit is formed, a sharp vernal frost will con- 
geal (freeze), young buds and destroy them, he informs them of no more 
than what might happen to any fruit-bearing tree ; but if he means that the 
tree becomes barren, he has been much misinformed, and is undoubtedly 
mistaken. The loss of the crop for one year, by an early frost, if the tree 
itself was uninjured, would more probably have the effect of invigorating 
the tree, and of enabling it next year to produce a large crop. All the 
authorities that speak from actual knowledge, assure us that the Olive 
has thriven in our climate, and has produced abundantly. Dr. Ramsey, 
who spent a long life of usefulness among us, tells us expressly, (2d His. 
S. C, 303), " Olives have been naturalized in Carolina to good purpose, 
and stand all seasons." He does not even seem to be aware that severe 
frost here had ever destroyed any of the trees; and had he been aware 
of that fact, he would unquestionably have recorded it ; so that we may 
fairly conclude no such frost happened in all his time. After much enquiry, 
with an earnest desire to ascertain the very truth in this matter, I have been 
able to find only two Winters since the first settlement of the country, which 
have been so severe as seriously to injure the Olive. The first was the 



13 

Winter of 1746-47, described by Gov. Glen, and the other was the recent 
Winter of 1835-36. And it is perhaps worthy of remark, that the 7th of 
February, was the coldest day in the Winter of 1747, and the 6th and 8th 
of February, were the coldest days in the Winter of 1835. Both certainly 
did much injury to the Olive trees. But even in climates in which they 
are successfully cultivated — and furnish the richest return from the soil — 
where, as Mr. Hillhouse says, " the produce of the soil is said to be one- 
third greater when planted with Olives, than under any other species of 
culture," they are liable to be destroyed by severe frosts. Even Provence 
and Languedoc have sometimes Winters which this tree cannot resist. — 
The author of an exceedingly interesting treatise on the Olive, published at 
Montpelier, in 1784, speaking of such Winters, says: (271), I shall only 
recal, here, that too memorable year, of which the melancholy remem- 
brance yet fills the heart with terror. The Winter, the cruel Winter of 
1709, was more fatal to that tree than to any other. It left no resource 
to the afflicted husbandman. Many saw their Olives, split by the frost, 
dry to the lowest root, and with no other consolation than the immense 
quantity of fire-wood from them ; and at pages 256 and 257 may be found 
an account of a number of years in which the frost had done great injury 
to the Olive, both in France and in Italy. The few trees that in Provence 
and Languedoc (p. 296), survived the frost of 1709, were so much injured 
by it, that for six or seven years they bore no fruit. But neither that fatal 
year, nor the occasional recurrence of years similar to it, has compelled 
the husbandmen of Provence and Languedoc to abandon in despair the 
culture of their favorite tree — and Olive oil is still one of their most valua- 
ble products. So far as regards climate, it is confidently believed, that 
the climate of South Carolina — especially that of the sea board — is at 
least equally favorable with that of Provence and Languedoc. Most prob- 
ably it is more favorable. And with the example of these provinces of 
France before us, we have the greatest encouragement to undertake the 
extensive culture of this tree. Volney, whose observations on the climate 
and soil of the United States, are distinguished for great accuracy and abil- 
ity, says, from Liancourt (Duke de la Rochefoucault), that the mercury 
sometimes falls in Charleston to 4° [Raumur] below zero, and in one night 
the earth freezes two inches deep — a degree of cold certainly very seldom 
experienced in our lower country. And he remarks that this circum- 
stance prevents the orange from growing there in the open fields ; but it 
will not prevent the culture of the Olive, especially of the Olive of Cors- 
ica, for in 1792, at Corte,* near the centre of that Island, among the 
mountains, about 500 toises, (nearly 3250 English feet,) above the level of 
the sea, he had seen the Olive prosper notwithstanding a frost 3° or 4° 
below zero ; and, he adds, that the Corsicans even allege that the snow ly- 
ing eight days on the ground destroys the insects and assures a crop. 

The accounts given of the longevity of this tree, are quite romantic ; nay, 
some of them go far back into that period of history, considered as the pro- 
per domain of fable, — the fabulous ages, — and some of them are associated 
with events of so high a character, that though they can throw no light on 
the culture of the tree, or its adaptation to our climate, they may interest the 
Society. 

* Corte 42° 18' 2" N. ; about 10° farther North than Charleston. 



14 

Herodotus, in his Urania,* tells us that in the Temple of Erectheus, in 
the Acropolis of Athens, is the olive which Minerva produced in her dispute 
with Neptune for the honor of giving the name to that city. Cicero refers to 
it in his De Legibus,f as the sempiterna olea, the everlasting olive; and 
Pliny says, even in his day, Athenis quoque olea durare traditur in cer- 
tamine edita a Minerva. It was regarded with so much veneration, that 
when Epimenides had come from Crete to Athens, to purify the city, they 
received him with the highest honors, and pressed many valuable presents 
upon him. He would accept nothing but a branch of the sacred olive. — 
And when Anthony went against the Parthians, he took with him a crown 
from this tree. Indeed, such was the opinion of its durability, that Pliny 
says, Argis olea etiam nunc durare dicitur ad quam Io in vaccam mutatam 
Argus alligaverat — and he adds, without the qualification of dicitur, that the 
wild olive from which Hercules was first crowned, was then at Olympia, and 
religiously protected. Traditions of the longevity of the olive, are not con- 
fined to the Greeks and Romans. There are yet standing, or were a few 
years ago, eight olive trees on the Mount of Olives, in the supposed site of 
the Garden of Gethsemane, Avhich the legends of the country allege, shaded 
our Saviour when he was on earth, and dwelt among us, and which are still 
pointed out by the monks to pilgrims, and are regarded with high venera- 
tion. This tradition, even in these days of enquiry and scepticism, has not 
been without its defenders, and it is so curious and interesting, as connected 
with the present subject, that I cannot refrain from submitting to you a few 
observations recently made on it. " To this legend it has been objected, that 
according to the testimony of Josephus, all the trees within some distance of 
Jerusalem, were cut down by the Romans, to be used in the works raised 
against the devoted city : and this, together with the improbability that such 
trees should exist above eighteen centuries, has been considered as conclu- 
sive against the claim made for them, though it has not been denied, that they 
are probably the oldest olive trees in the world." That claim, however, has 
found an advocate in Dr. Wilde. He says : It is true, that the Romans cut 
down the wood about Jerusalem, but the timber of our olive trees would be 
of little value indeed, in constructing engines, towers and battering-rams, to 
be used against the Cyclopean walls of Jerusalem; and these trees, in parti- 
cular, must then have been so slender that the besiegers would have consi- 
dered them unfit for any such purpose. They are undoubtedly the largest, 
and I may add with safety, the most ancient olive trees in the world. The 
largest is twenty-four feet in girth above its roots, though its topmost branch 
is not thirty feet from the ground. The trunks of most of them are hollow 
in the centre, and built up with stones. 

There is nothing unnatural in assigning an age of nineteen centuries to 
these patriarchs of the vegetable kingdom, whose growth is the slowest of 
any in existence. They have not borne fruit for some years past ; but though 
their branches are greatly decayed, yet, from the hardness of the wood, and 
each part being so retentive of life, there is still a considerable head to each, 
whose light-colored silky leaves hang like so many silver locks over their 
time-worn and aged stems, that now in the evening of life are fast tottering 
to decay." Chateaubriand, in his Itinerary of 1806, from Paris to Jerusa- 
lem, tells us that these trees are at least of the times of the Lower Empire. 

* Ur.lv. fL. 1,1. 



15 

Every olive tree in Turkey, found standing by the Musselmen when they 
invaded Asia, only pays one medin* to the public treasury, while the olive 
tree planted since the conquest, owes to the Grand Signior one half of its 
product. These eight trees are only taxed eight medins ; and this he thinks 
conclusive proof that they were standing at the time of the invasion in A. 
D. 1030, which would make them now considerably upwards of 800 years 
old. These, it must be admitted, are natural curiosities, and evidence only 
of the great durability of the trees. It is universally agreed, however, that 
they will last healthy and productive for two hundred years, and are, to 
use the expression of Pliny, Firmissima ad vivendum.f 

Considerable difference of opinion, among the writers on the subject, ex- 
ists as to the average quantity of oil usually made from one tree. Mr. 
Jefferson says, tolerably good olive trees yield one year with another, about 
20 pounds of oils. Laing, in his notes of a traveller, remarks that a single 
olive tree will sometimes yield from one crop nearly fifty gallons of oil ; and 
Jahu, in his Biblical Archaeology (§71,) tells us that sometimes one thou- 
sand pounds are obtained from one tree. I have somewhere, I think, seen 
it asserted, that in the olive growing countries, a single productive tree will 
maintain a whole family. 

When this subject was chosen for the leading matter in my proposed 
essay for the Society — having, in truth, no resources on it in my own obser- 
vation or experience — I was anxious to benefit by the observations and 
experience of the planters, the practical agriculturists among us, who had 
given any attention to the culture of this tree. James Hamilton Couper, 
Esq., of Georgia, one of the most intelligent gentlemen and scientific plant- 
ers of oursouthern country, had engaged, as I was informed, in this culture. 
I immediately addressed a note to him on the subject, stating to him the object 
of my enquiry, and soliciting him to furnish me with such information on 
it as might be convenient to him. In a very short time he, with the utmost 
liberality and kindness, made me a communication of the 3d of September 
last, which I consider of great importance, and which, with his permission, 
as it was sought for you, I now beg leave to submit to the Society. 

"Near Darien, 3d Sept. 1846. 

My Dear Sir : — I beg you to be assured that, in complying with your re- 
quest to furnish you with any facts within my knowledge and my view gen- 
erally, on the subject of the cultivation of the olive tree in this country, I 
feel equal pleasure in promoting a patriotic object, and in being able, in 
however trifling a degree, to gratify your personal wishes. 

Having had my attention called, many years ago, to this subject, by an 
experiment on a somewhat large scale, which my father made in 1825 ; and 
having devoted some attention to the works of European writers on the cul- 
tivation of the olive, and the manufacture of oil from it, I hope that the fol- 
lowing extracts from my note book may save you some trouble in your in- 
vestigations. I have probably given much that is already familiar to you ; 
but if I have, you must blame yourself for professing that the subject is 
comparatively new to you. 

* A medin is a money — of Alexandria, worth 33 aspres — of Smyrna, worth the one- 
hundred part of a piastre — and a silver money of Constantinople, worth 3 aspres ; one 
aspre is worth about 9 deniers, and the denier is the twelfth part of a sou. 

•JTheoph. His. vi, 14. Plin. xvi, 90. Naile, l'Olivier. 2 Jeff. W. 125. 



16 

The first and all-important question which presents itself is, whether our 
climate is adapted to the olive tree : and to what portion of our territory we 
may hope to extend its cultivation. The facts which will be presented, are, 
I think, decisive, that the immediate sea-board of South Carolina and Geor- 
gia, the whole of Florida, and the borders of the Gulf of Mexico, are as 
suitable for the cultivation of the olive, as the south of France. 

First, as to climate — Arthur Young, in his travels through France, vol. 1, 
page 311, observes, "several other plants, beside the olive, mark this cli- 
mate, (the olive climate.) Thus, at Mentelimart, in Dauphine, besides that 
tree, you meet with, for the first time, the pomegranate, the Arbor Judae, the 
paliurus,^^s, and the evergreen oak." 

The orange tree is found to be more tender than the olive, in France and 
Italy. The same writer says, "the latter plant (the orange,) is so tender, 
that this (Hieres) is supposed to be the only part of France, in which it will 
thrive in the open air. I went to Hieres to view them, and it was with pain 
I found them, without exception, so damaged by the frost, in the winter of 
1788, as to be cut down, some to the ground, and others to the main stem." 

Rosier, in his Cours d' Agriculture, t. 7, p. 258. observes, "Dans le vil- 
lage d' Hieres en est meme oblige de couvrir les citrouniers, les cedrats, etc., 
pendant les rigueurs du froid." 

Mr. Jefferson, in his letter of July, 1787, to the Agricultural Society of 
South Carolina, remarks, "wherever the orange will stand at all, experience 
shows that the olive will stand well, being a hardier tree." 

Simonde mentions, in his work on Tuscan Agriculture, (Tableau de 1' 
Agriculture Toscane, p. 112,) that the olive is considered in Italy as hardier 
than the vine. " L'on a souvent mis en question si l'on ne pourrait pas na- 
turaliser 1' olivier dans des climate moins chauds que ceux qui lui servent de 
limites, et l'on etait encourage dans cette esperance par 1' observation qu'en 
Italie quoique 1' olivier souffre d'un grand froid, il est, cependant considere 
Gemine plus robuste que la vigne, et qu'en consequence en le place a des ex- 
positions en colle-ci ne pourrait pas crditre." He further observes, that he 
himself had vines and olives planted together, and that the former suffered 
most from the cold. This writer also says, that the sweet orange does not 
succeed well in Tuscany, unless it is protected. "Gluoique 1' orange doux 
de Portugal croisse quelquefois en plein vent, dans des jardins bien defendus 
de la bise, cependant il ne reussit bien qu'en espalier, et autant qu'en peut 
le preserver des grands froids avec des paillassons." Id. page 204. 

Bosc, in the article Olivier, Nouveau cours complet d'Agriculture, t. 9, says, 
that the frost acts injuriously at two periods of the year in France: the first, 
during mid-winter, whenever the thermometer descends lower than ten de- 
grees below zero, (14° of Fahrenheit,) then, not only the branches, but 
even the trunks perish, and they have to be cut down. This Avas the case 
in 1709, and in 1788, when most of the olive trees in France were destroyed 
to the ground, (see Young's Travels, vol. 1, page 311.) The second period 
is during the spring, when the plant is in vegetation. This only occasions 
the loss of one or two crops, by nipping the extreme shoots : but as injury is 
more frequent from this cause than the former, the effect is nearly the same. 
Bosc, who lived sometime in Charleston, attributes the neglect of the culti- 
vation of the olive in Carolina, to this latter cause. " C'est cette cause, ainsi 
que je m'en suis assure seu les lieux qui a empeche les plantations d'oliviers 
tentes en Caroline, aux environs de Charleston, climat plus chaud qu aucun 
canton de France, de reussir." 



17 

These extracts, which are from writers of the highest authority, are inter- 
esting, as they show from the growth of the fig, the pomegranate, and the 
orange, that the climate of the olive region of France is no milder than the 
maritime districts of South Carolina and Georgia, and the whole of Florida. 
But the actual growth of the olive tree itself, proves this most conclusively, 
as far as the limited period which has elapsed since the introduction of thai 
plant into this country, admits of a comparison. 

I believe that you had some olive trees growing in Charleston for half a 
century, before the fatal spring of 1835. Ramsey mentions the fruit being 
pickled from trees imported by Henry Laurens. 

At Dungeness, on Cumberland Island, Georgia, a number of trees bore 
abundantly for many years before that season. 

In 1825, my father imported, through a French house in Charleston, two 
hundred trees from Provence, via the Langnedoc canal and Bourdeaux. 
They were five months on the way, and did not arrive until May: notwith- 
standing which, a very few only failed to grow. These trees were planted 
at Cannon's Point, his residence on St. Simon's Island, latitude 31° 20 ; and 
had borne several small crops of olives, when the severe cold of February, 
1835, (8° of Fahrenheit,) injured them so much, that it was necessary to 
cut them down to the ground. They all threw up shoots from the old 
stumps ; and many of them have now attained to a diameter of nine inches. 
For the last two years they have produced some fruit : and this year, about 
one-half of the trees are bending under the weight of an abundant crop. 
About one hundred trees raised from cuttings, are also beginning to bear. 
It is now twenty-one years since the importation of these trees, and with the 
exception of the destructive season of 1835, they have never, in the slight- 
est degree, been injured by the cold. The last winter was one of unusual 
severity, — the thermometer having sunk to 19° Fahrenheit; and although 
the sweet oranges, on the same plantation, were much injured, some having 
been cut down to the ground, I could not perceive that a single leaf, among 
two hundred and fifty olive trees, had been touched by the frost. This ex- 
perience is certainly very satisfactory, the more particularly, as it is certain 
that the season of 1835 was the coldest, known on this coast, for at least one 
hundred years ; as is proved by the destruction of orange trees on St. Simon's 
Island, which had stood since the occupation of that island by Gen. Ogle- 
thorpe, and of others at St. Augustine, which dated still farther back. 

The effect of one such disastrous year, should not discourage the intro- 
duction of so valuable a tree. In the South of France, they have perse- 
vered in its cultivation, although, in 1709, and 1788, almost every tree was 
destroyed to the ground; and they were severely. injured in 1740, 1745, 
1748, 1755 and 1768. (Nouveau Cours d' Agri, t. 9, p. 194.) 

With respect to the danger from the frosts of the spring, alluded to by 
Bosc, it may be observed, that very fortunately the olive tree is late in put- 
ting out its flowers, and that they rarely appear before the end of April, by 
which time there is little risk from frosts on this coast. The failure of the 
crop for one or two years would be the only injury. 

It may be doubted whether the olive tree can be cultivated beyond the 
influence of the sea air, on the coast of Carolina and Georgia, with the varie- 
ties at present known. But it may be hoped that this plant will, in time, 
become acclimated ; and that, by pursuing the plan of raising from the seed, 
which has been found to produce hardier plants, new kinds, adapted to a 



18 

greater range of climate, may, in time be introduced. The gradual exten- 
sion of the olive, from the southern to the northern shores of the Mediter- 
ranean, would encourage this expectation. The southern coasts of Italy and 
Spain, which are now the great oil markets of the world, were, during the 
early periods of Roman history, destitute of the olive. " Sous le regne de 
Tarquin l'ancien, cet arbre n'existoit point encore en Italie, en Espagne, et 
en Afrique. Sous le consulat d'Appius Claudius l'huile etoit encore tres rare 
a Rome ; mais du temps de Pline l'olivier deja passe en France et en Es- 
pagne," — Humboldt, Essai sur le Geographie des Plantes, 4 to., 1807, p. 26. 

The suitableness of the soil of our southern coast to the olive tree admits 
of no doubt. It thrives in every soil which is not wet. "Toute espece de 
terre, pourvu qu'elle ne soit pas marecageuse, convient a l'olivier, cependant 
comme il donne souvent plus de bois que de fruits dans les terrains futiles, 
et que ces terrains sont toujours precieux pour la culture du ble, etc., on le 
plante plus generalement dans des lieux caillouteux, sablonneux, sur les co- 
teaux les plus arides, pourvu qu ils soient exposes au midi ou levant." (Now- 
veau louis d'Agri., t. 9, p. 184). That the sandy lands of our sea board are 
adapted to the olive, needs no other proof than the luxuriant growth of the 
trees on St. Simons and Cumberland Islands. 

Should the olive become acclimated to the interior of the States of South 
Carolina and Georgia, it will find, in the open and gravelly soil of the ter- 
tiary slope, between the granite ridge and tide water, its most congenial soil. 
"Aptissimum genus terras est oleis cui glarea subest, si superposita creta 
sabulo admista est." (Columella de re rustica, Lib. 5. Cap. 7. Aldus Ve- 
neris 1514). And in his Liber de Arboribus, Cap. 17, he says, "Olea max- 
ime collibus siccis, et argillosis gaudet, at humidis campis, et pinguibus, 
lastas frondes sine fructu affert."* 

Admitting the suitableness of the climate and soil of the sea coast of 
Georgia and South Carolina, and that portion of the territory of the U. S. 
which lies south of lat. 31°, to the cultivation of the olive, the question next 
presents itself, is the introduction of that tree likely to prove such a source 
of profit to the agriculturist as to be worthy of his attention 1 A calm exam- 
ination of this part of the subject, will probably disappoint those whose stan- 
dard of profit has been the exaggerated hopes of the cotton culture, and who 
tolerate no delay in reaping the reward of their labor ; but it may present a 
sufficient inducement to devote some time and expense to the subject, to a 
class of persons less impatient of growing rich, and who believe that the 
direction of a part of the agricultural labor of the southern States to new 
objects, is called for by the excessive production of a few staples, and that 
the introduction of a plant affording a wholesome and nutritious article of 
food, and which is important to many valuable manufactures, will add very 
materially to the wealth, happiness and independence of the country. 

The distance at which the olive trees are planted, is regulated by the cir- 
cumstance, whether the ground is to be devoted solely to them, or is to be 
cultivated at the same time in grain. In the first case they are placed 
nearer, and in the latter farther apart. 

Bosc, in the article quoted above, observes that generally where the soil 
is fit for cultivation, the trees are placed far apart, in order to grow some 
other crop in the interval between them ; and says that this practice should 

* " Sed neque depressa loca, neque ardua, magisque modicos clivos amat." — Id. Re. 
Rustica. 



19 

be approved of, both because the olive being subject to fail in its fruit, the 
whole revenue from the land is not lost, and because it is benefitted by the 
annual cultivation which the other crops require, and because the greater 
the distance between the trees the greater their size, and the more abundant 
and the better the fruit. He adds that the average distance of the trees 
apart should in rich soils be fixed at 48 feet, and in poor at 36. 

Arthur Young mentions that in Languedoc "many fields are planted in 
rows at 12 yards by 10." (Travels, vol. 2. p. 72.) At Pingean, "In plant- 
ing, if they mean to crop the land with corn, in the common manner, that 
is, one year in two, the other fallow, they put 100 trees to 8 seterees of land ; 
but if they intend to have no corn at all, the same number on 4 seterees." 
(Id. p. 73.) As the seteree is equal to half an acre, this is at the rate of 25 
trees to the acre in the former, and 50 in the latter case. 

The distance varies very much in other localities, but it may be assumed 
as a safe ground of calculation, that 25 trees may be planted to the acre 
when the land is cropped, and 50 if devoted exclusively to the olive. 

The product of oil varies very much with the size of the tree, the charac- 
ter of the soil, and the fruitfulness of the season. 

In France, Young informs us that at Toulon, "they have great trees, that 
are known to yield 20 livres to 30 livres a tree (40 lbs. to 60 lbs., or from 
5£ to 8^ gallons of oil), when they give a crop, which is once in two years, 
and sometimes once in three, — small trees yield 3 livres (6 lbs.), 5 livres 
(10 lbs.) and 6 livres (12 lbs.) each." In Languedoc, "olives pay in gen- 
eral 3 livres (6 lbs.) each tree per annum; some 5 livres (10 lbs.)." At 
Pingean, " some large and fine trees are known to give 84 lbs. of oil (or 
11 J gallons of oil, as the gallon weighs 7£ lbs.) ; but they reckon in com- 
mon, that good trees give 6 livres (12 lbs.) one with another." In the arti- 
cle Olive, in Michaux's North American Sylva, Vol. 2, page 196, Mr. Hill- 
house says, " the mean produce of a tree may be assumed in France, at 10 
lbs., (H galls.) and in Italy at 15 lbs., (2 galls.): but single trees have 
been known, in the productive season, to yield 300 lbs. (41 galls.)." 

Young states the produce of a field of 200 trees in Tuscany, to have 
been, in 1786, - - 30 barrels, (150 lbs. each,) or 615 gallons of oil. 

1787, - - 3 " " " 61 " 

1788, - - 8 " " " 164 " 

1789, - - 25 " " " 512 " 



66 barrels, " 1352 gallons, or an 

average per annum of 338 gallons, being If gallons per tree. — Travels, 
Vol. 2, page 235. 

" On a very bad stony soil, though in the plain, I found it took twenty 
trees of 25 years' growth, to yield a barrel of oil (20J gallons). But in a 
fine soil, and with very old trees, a barrel a tree has been known." 

From these statements, assuming that the district to which I have con- 
jecturally limited the olive culture, has a climate as favorable for it as that 
of the south of France, we may place the product of a tree in full bearing, 
as giving a mean annual yield of one gallon of oil, or 25 galls, to the acre, 
when the land is cultivated at the same time in some other crop ; or at 50 
gallons, if exclusively devoted to the olive. Estimating the oil at the mod- 
erate price of 75 cents per gallon, and the value will be, in the former case, 
$ 18| per acre, and in the latter, $37f But to the first must he added the 



20 

value of the corn or other crops cultivated on the same land ; and which 
may he put down at nearly a full crop every second year, as the trees are 
reckoned in Italy to diminish the grain crop only one-fifth. 

It is presumed that the best mode of promoting the general introduction 
of the olive into this country, will be, to recommend the mixed cultivation. 
As the olive only begins to bear about the tenth year, and does not arrive at 
its full production before the twentieth to the thirtieth, few persons would 
consent to expend so much labor before reaping any return. 

But under the mixed system, nearly the full amount of the usual crops is 
made, and the manuring and cultivating of the grain crops, will be suffi- 
cient for the olive trees, and the labor of planting the young trees, is almost 
the only extra work they will require until they commence bearing. The 
only objection which is likely to present itself at present, is the necessity of 
excluding all stock from the fields : but whenever our agriculture shall be- 
come more enlightened, this will be generally done. 

The question may be asked by those who have usually regarded olive oil 
as merely an article of household economy, of very limited use in North 
America, whether a ready sale of the oil can be depended on? They may 
believe with the late Abbe Correa, that our countrymen have "bacon stom- 
achs," and that it will be very difficult, so far to conquer the obstinacy of 
established habit, as to induce them to substitute pure oil for rancid bacon. 
If the only use of this oil were for food, it would undoubtedly require time 
to introduce it into general consumption : but that time will effect it, there 
can be no doubt, from the intrinsic value of the article. Until then an am- 
ple demand for all that can be produced will be found in the annually in- 
creasing consumption of this oil in machinery, and in various manufactures, 
particularly of wool and soap.* Already we import 82,655 gallons, (see 
Report of the Secretary of the Treasury for 1845,) and as our manufac- 
tures are comparatively as yet but in their infancy, and our population in- 
creasing with undiminished rapidity, there is no danger of the production 
overtaking the demand. What the demand may become, is shown by the 
facts that England imported in the year 1830, 2,791,057 gallons of olive 
oil, valued then at about $2,500,000 — an average of 88 cents per gallon 
(McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, article olive oil) : and that France, 
although the production of that kingdom was, as early as 1788, estimated 
at 75,000,000 of francs, or nearly $15,000,000,1 (Peuchet Statistique Elemen- 
taire de la France, p. 327,) has yet imported in one year olive oil to the 
value of nearly 30,000,000 of francs, or $6,000,000. 

Some idea may be formed of the value of the olive tree as a source of na- 
tional wealth, from the above statement of its production in France, a coun- 
try on the northern verge of the olive climate. In countries more favorably 
situated, it is still more important. The small kingdom of Naples exports 
annually about 7,300.000 gallons of olive oil, valued there at $3,400,000 
(McCulloch's Com. Diet., article Naples). 

But as olive oil enters largely into domestic consumption, particularly 
among the lower classes, forming a wholesome and nutritious article of 
food, it has an importance far exceeding its merely commercial value. The 

* Hereafter, perhaps, when the whale fishery shall be exhausted, for lights. 

t Chaptal estimates the quantity of land cultivated in the olive in France, at 43,000 
hectanes, or about 106,000 acres, which gives an annual income per acre of nearly 
$14.— Dc V Industrie Francaisc, t. 1, p. 207. 



21 

ample home production of the necessaries of life, is the true foundation of 
national independence and happiness : and whatever adds to the unstinted 
enjoyment of physical comfort, it becomes the well wisher of his country to 
cherish more sedulously than those articles which have a merely money 
value. It may safely be asserted that the United States owe their great 
happiness and prosperity more to the cheap abundance of Indian corn, and 
the consequent full supply of animal food, than to all of the staples which 
figure so largely on the list of foreign exports. 

Mr. Jefferson, with equal beauty and patriotism, observes, " If the mem- 
ory of those persons is held in great respect in South Carolina, who intro- 
duced there the culture of rice, a plant which sows life and death with almost 
equal hand* what obligations would be due to him, who should introduce 
the olive tree, and set the example of its culture ! Were the owners of 
slaves to view it only as a means of bettering their condition, how much 
would he better that by planting one of these trees for every slave he pos- 
sessed ! Having been myself an eye witness to the blessings which this 
tree sheds on the poor, I never had my wishes so kindled for the introduc- 
tion of any article of new culture into our own country." — Letter to the Agri- 
cultural Society, So. Ca. 

If the facts given above are sufficient to prove the importance and practi- 
cability of cultivating the olive among us, no impediment is presented by 
the difficulty of propagating it, as it is readily increased by seed, by cut- 
tings, suckers, portions of the root, or by grafting. The mode of raising by 
the seed is only resorted to in order to produce new varieties, or as stocks 
for grafting, as the fruit from seedlings, although yielding an oil of a more 
delicate and higher flavor, is usually very small. Grafting improves the 
quality of the fruit ; but is not so generally resorted to as propagation by 
suckers and cuttings. The last is the most practised. Limbs from an inch 
to an inch and a half in diameter, are cut into lengths of from 12 to 15 
inches. Trenches five feet apart and six to eight inches deep being pre- 
pared, the cuttings are placed in them, about eighteen inches apart, and in 
an oblique position, so that when the earth is filled in, from one to two 
inches will remain above the ground. On the exposed end a little garden- 
er's cement should be smeared, to exclude the water ; and over the whole 
some moss or loose sand is drawn, for some time, to diminish the evapora- 
tion. In dry weather the cuttings should occasionally be watered, until 
they have taken root. Until the third year nothing more is required than 
to cultivate among the young plants, and to trim them to a single stem. 
When three years old, the young trees should be planted out in the usual 
way, at distances of from 30 to 48 feet. The holes should be made large 
and deep, and had better be dug several months before the trees are put out. 
The subsequent cultivation consists in removing the suckers, trimming out 
the dead wood, in manuring moderately once in 3 or 4 years, digging 
around the roots annually, and in ploughing once a year the intervals, un- 
less a crop of grain is cultivated among them. Much difference of opinion 
exists in France, on the subject of pruning : but unless it is deemed desira- 
ble to keep the trees low for the facility of gathering the fruit, or to dimin- 
ish the risk of their being blown down by high winds, all that appears to 
be necessary is to remove the decayed wood, and to keep the head of the 

* The underlining is my own. One who has cultivated rice for 25 years, must feel 
the force and emphasis of this beautiful figure. 



22 

tree moderately open, for the free admission of light and heat.* With us 
the liability to severe gales of wind, will recommend low trimming : and 
the same evil will probably lead to the practice of grafting on seedling 
stocks, the tap root of which will ensure the stability of the future tree. 
From cuttings, in thin soils, the roots will be too superficial for safety. 

The manufacture of this oil is extremely simple ; and requires no very 
complicated or expensive machinery. The latter consists of a mortar, a 
revolving stone, or some other contrivance for separating the pulp from the 
stones, and of rendering it a paste : a revolving stone, like a bark or cider 
mill for crushing the stones : a lever or screw press for the pressing of the 
oil from the pulp and stones ; bags of coarse cloth or hair to contain the 
pulp ; and wooden or earthen-ware vessels for receiving the oil from the 
presses, and for separating it from the mucilage. 

As soon as the Olives are ripe, which is indicated by their becoming of 
a dark color and soft,f they are gathered by hand, and spread out over 
floors to the depth of a few inches. In this situation they remain three 
days, being turned daily, and the decayed berries carefully picked out. — 
They are then placed in the mortar or under a stone, and moderately tritu- 
rated, until the pulp is reduced to a paste, and is detached from the stones. 
The stones having been removed, the pulp is then put into coarse and strong 
bags, and placed under the press, which should be worked very slowly at 
first. From the press the oil mixed with mucilage runs into wooden vessels, 
half filled with water. After standing from 12 to 24 hours, to give time 
for the mucilage to separate from the oil, the latter is decanted into other 
vessels, and remains undisturbed for about 20 days. It is then ready to be 
decanted again and finally put into the barrels in which it is to remain. — 
During this repose, nearly all the mucilage will have been precipitated ; but 
the oil is still liable to be troubled until it has been exposed to the cold. 

The oil from this expression is of the first quality. The pulp or cake re- 
maining in the bags from this first pressure, is then broken up, moistened 
with warm water, returned to the bags, and again pressed. The oil from it 
is nearly equal to the first, and may be mixed with it. 

The stones having been reduced to a paste by grinding under stones, are 
pressed in the same way, and yield an inferior oil, of a harsh taste, and run- 
ning rapidly into a state of rancidity. 

The quantity of oil which may be extracted from a given weight of the fruit 
is stated by M. Sieuve (Nouveau Cours d' Agriculture, Article, Huile), as 
follows: 100 lbs. of sound olives gave 76£ lbs. of pulp, and 22 lbs stones. 
The 76f lbs. of pulp, when pressed, yielded 21£ lbs. of limpid oil of the 1st 
quality. The stones, having been ground, gave 6 lbs. 14 oz. of kernel, and 
14 lbs. 4 oz. of woody fibre. The kernel and woody fibre gave 5| lbs. of 
inferior oil. Together making 27 lbs. of oil from 100 lbs. of olives. 

The refuse of the manufacture forms a valuable manure. 

The above is a mere outline of the mode of cultivating the olive, and of 
extracting the oil. To enter fully into the subject, would occupy many 
sheets of paper; and such detailed information is probably foreign to your 
purpose, which, it is presumed, is to recommend it to the attention 

* Virgil appears to have been no advocate of the pruning hook. 
" Contra, non ulla est oleis cultura : neque illse 
"Procurvam expectant falcem " [Georgica, Lib. 2, v. 420. 

j- On St. Simons the season of maturity is October. 



23 

of the South, by presenting for consideration its most important features ; — 
and to go no farther into minutiae than may be necessary to an accurate 
knowledge and correct appreciation of it. 

If, however, I am mistaken, as to your views, it will give me pleasure to 
furnish you, hereafter, with any further details. 

To those seeking the fullest and most practical information on this sub- 
ject, I would recommend the perusal of the Articles Olivier, Huiles and 
Moulins in the Nouveau Cours d' Agriculture, 13 vol., 8 No., Paris, 1809. 
They form a most excellent treatise, and are from the pen of Bosc, to whom 
I was introduced at Paris, as one of the most able and distinguished of their 
Agricultural writers. Bosc has taken the articles of the celebrated Abbe 
Rozier as his basis, but has retrenched from them much that was useless, 
and added much that is valuable. Should your State Society be disposed 
to patronize the Olive — and I trust that your address will so incline them — 
a translation of these essays, accompanied by two or three plates, which 
would form a pamphlet of some 50 pages, will place the public in possession 
of the best attainable information — information not now existing in an En- 
glish dress, as far as I am aware. 

The experiment made by my father — who, although 88 years no longer 
allow of his taking an active part in field operations, is still deeply interested 
in the subject, — has proved so satisfactory, that it is my intention to prose- 
cute it on a larger scale. We have succeeded perfectly in pickling the Ol- 
ive, and in making from it the finest oil I have ever tasted. This season I 
expect to make several hundred bottles of oil ; and if I am not disappointed 
by a hurricane, I hope this winter to submit a sample for your critical 
judgment. Having now about 250 trees of various ages ; and intending to 
increase them, I hope in a few years to be able to test conclusively the ques- 
tion of the Olive culture in Georgia. The experiment will not be a costly 
one, as the ground occupied by Olives is cultivated at the same time in other 
crops. 

The following quotation from Columella, with which I will close this 
very long communication, (in which I have without mercy emptied out up- 
on you my note book), is consolatory to the experimenter ; and will, I am 
sure, recommend " the first of all trees " to that large class of persons, who, 
although having their full share of a desire for good things, are equally 
adverse to labor and to risk : 

" Longeque ex omnibus stirpibus minorem impensam desiclerat olea, quae 
prima omnium arborum est, nam quamvis non continuis annis sed fere 
altero quoque fructum afferat, eximia tamen ejus ratio est, quod levi cultu 
sustinetur, et cum se non induit, vix ullam impensam poscit. Sed et siquam 
recipit, subinde fructus multiplicat. Neglecta compluribus annis non ut 
vinea deficit, eoque ipso tempore aliquid etiam interim patrifamilias prasstat, 
et cum adhibita cultura est, uno anno emendatur. Quare etiam nos in hoc 
genere arboris diligenter prcecipere censuimus." Col. de re rustica Lib. 5. Cap. 7. 

Requesting that you will at all times command me whenever I can be 
useful to you, I am with great respect and esteem, 

My dear sir, your ob't servant, 

J. HAMILTON COUPER. 

M. King, Esq." 



24 

The facts and information given by this excellent letter, are full and sat- 
isfactory on the culture of the Olive tree, and the adaptation of that culture 
to our climate. They are full of hope and encouragement. They show, 
without any reasonable doubt, that our Southern country is well adapted to 
this culture — that it promises a rich reward to the labors of the husbandman 
— and, that, if successful, it could not fail to add greatly to our wealth and 
prosperity. Permit me, I pray you very earnestly, to press it upon you. 

Under your direction, an experiment on a scale commensurate with the 
importance of the undertaking, might be made, if experiment it can be called 
with the evidence now before us. Let a Committee of the Society be ap- 
pointed to superintend and conduct this experiment. A small tract of land 
on some of our sea islands might be selected for it — our members along the 
sea board might individually turn their attention to it, on their own planta- 
tions, with the least possible interruption to their other pursuits. The more 
extensively the experiments are made, the more satisfied will the mind be 
with the results. All the information necessary to conduct these experi- 
ments with the requisite skill, can be easily obtained. Young trees might 
even be procured from Corsica, as the most likely to stand the variations 
of our climate. 

That the eye of the master maketh the horse fat — that the footstep of 
the planter is the best manure, are maxims as old, at least, as the days of 
Aristotle;* and our own Franklin has repeated the well known aphorism: 

He who by the plough would thrive, 
Himself must either hold or drive. 

It may be laid down as an axiom, that he, who, in the present state of 
our knowledge, would succeed in the culture of the Olive, must attend to it 
himself. Skill, care and perseverance, must combine, under providence, to 
secure to us the blessing of the Olive tree ; and with them, success, I confi- 
dently believe, is certain. Who can estimate the value of that success ? — 
The happy introduction of this culture, under your auspices, Gentlemen, 
would illustrate and hallow the annals of the Society. It would open a new 
era in the industry of South Carolina, and entitle you to the gratitude of 
posterity ! 

This is the age of discovery, and improvement. The mind of man seems 
to have received a fresh impulse from the circumstances by which it is sur- 
rounded — from the events by which it is educated — and to have started for- 
ward in a new career of knowledge and power. Man wields, at pleasure, 
the mighty energies of steam — he makes the lightning his messenger — and 
measures the distance of the stars. Agriculture, according to its nature, 
under his direction, partakes in this onward movement. New modes of 
culture are introduced — new agents of fertility are employed. The results 
of intelligent observation, and of multiplied and well-conducted experiments, 
are carefully recorded, and garnered up, in able and widely circulated works, 
for the use of the practical farmer and future inquirer. Science is exerting 
all her powers to promote the advancement, and crown the labors of this — 
the noblest of all the arts. Who shall set limits to its progress ? Who shall 
say hitherto shall it come and no further ? Who can anticipate the extent 

* Hsptfrjtf epurrj^sitf <n jxaXi^a iWov tfiaivst, "6 <rou <$saVo<r£ ocp^aXfxoc;" g<p?) — 6 Ss 
AiSvs epwnjSsi's nroia, xotfpo.c dpipjj u ra rou <5saVoV£ '/^vrj" scpy. — (Arist. Oik. C. VI.) 



25 

of the future conquests of mind over matter ; or of the command which man 
is destined to wield over the elements created for him, and given to him to 
control and to enjoy? Let him fearlessly and faithfully pursue his high 
destiny. Let him never despair of anything that lies within the limits of 
possibility. Let him be true to himself, and use without abusing the means 
which Heaven has bestowed, and has given him the capacity to discover 
and employ ; and he may go on, from one degree of excellence to another, 
until he has drained the noxious fen, and purified the tainted air, and sub- 
dued and fertilized the barren wilderness, and made the desert to rejoice and 
blossom like the rose, and spread peace, and plenty, and health over the face 
of the whole earth. 



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